Page 100 of Meet Me on Greenwood

I tried not to react, but Susan did, looking at me frantically for the answer.

"Hands where I can see them, darling," the man spit. I halted, lifting my hands once more.

"Hey!" A voice called from behind the man, which caused him to whip around. He kept his gun trained on us as Houston approached.

His eyes narrowed. "Houston?" the man asked, incredulous. "God, that is you. You really did it didn’t you? You fooled them all, just like you said you would.”

“Stanton,” Houston said in recognition. He held up his hands to show he wasn’t a threat.

I looked between them. Clearly they knew each other.

“I’d like to kindly ask you to put down the gun, for old friend’s sake,” he added.

Stanton held the gun in place, but his face slid into a smile. “And you fooled them into thinking you are a real doctor.”

“I am a doctor,” Houston said. “I went to medical school.”

“Under false pretenses. I’m sure the admissions team didn’t know who you were.” He spit out more peanut shells. “Speaking of which, does your pretty woman Sarah know.”

Keep him talking, I thought. I just needed the man to be distracted a little longer.

"We don’t mean any harm," Houston said with calmness. "We just need to get to the train depot."

Stanton eyed us suspiciously. "Why not drive to the train station like normal folks do?"

"We were getting some air," Houston said. The train whistle sounded in the distance. Five minutes was all we had. "We better get going, or we will miss it."

Stanton turned his gaze back on Susan and I. “I don’t think so. I think I am taking you all in. We can have the police settle this.”

Houston took a step forward and Stanton raised his gun to him. “You know they will never accept you,” he said.

Stanton‘s jaw tightened like he’d eaten something bitter. “They accepted you. You think you are the only one who can reap the benefits?”

Houston shook his head. “It is not worth it. What you have to witness, what you have to remain silent on to survive. They will ask more of you until you lose who you are. You will hate yourself for every vulgar joke, every slur you swallow—the not saying anything will eat you alive.” He paused, his eyes sliding toward mine. “You might even let the one person you’ve allowed in slip through your fingers.”

Stanton’s eyes followed his gaze. “I’ve heard of this one you know. The woman who took Houston Whitaker from the Sarah Page. You are a legend, miss.”

My skin crawled with the way he assessed me from head to toe, lingering a little too long in certain places. He licked his lips. “That pussy must be something because—” Houston didn’t let him finish before he jumped him. "Run!" he yelled and the gun went off.

Susan screamed beside me as Houston wrestled the man to the ground. I started to leave, to get Susan on the train, but something stopped me. It was the necklace at my throat, it burned. The pain was intense, but I ignored it and reached for the pistol in my waistband.

"Get off him," I yelled. "Get off now."

The gunman didn’t even look up. "I’m going to kill him, and you are going to watch me do it."

I’m not sure if it was the words, or Houston’s expression, or all the people who came before this asshole who’d constantly underestimated me, but I pulled out the gun, and fired.

An explosion of fire set the man's clothes alight. The man's eyes went wide as he grabbed at himself, trying to put it out. He backed away from Houston and unbuckled his overalls, but it was too late. His undershirt was already ablaze. He turned to me in shock as he realized nothing was working, and he began to scream. It was the kind of scream I could not unhear as his body burned. I turned Susan's face away.

Moments later, Houston was beside me. "Come on!" he yelled, as the final horn of the train sounded.

Houston picked Susan up and we ran the rest of the way to the platform. Freida must have seen us coming because she waived at the conductor to wait, tears streaming down her face as she reached for Susan. Susan climbed into her arms, grasping her tightly.

"I thought you were going to leave me again," she whimpered.

Freida leaned back to kiss her temple. "Never, baby. You are stuck with me. I’ll never leave you again, you hear."

Edmund, the only calm one among us, put his hand on Freida’s shoulder. "Train’s leaving ma’am. We best get you going."